The City of Madisonville began replacing and upgrading their customers’ water meters last week beginning with the home of Mayor Bill Parten on Thursday.

“The city is excited to bring smart meters to our community as an ongoing effort to improve our services,” said Madisonville City Manager Camilla Viator, who was also present at the project’s first installment. “This is a cost effective program for the city because meter reading will be accurate, maintenance reduced and leaks detected earlier.”

Residents will now be able to keep closer tabs on their usage and consumption of water through personalized EyeOnWater online accounts. This system provides easy to understand graphs and the ability to establish alerts, which include potential leaks.

“Residents will be able to monitor and actively engage in their water consumption,” said Viator. “Together, we will be able to conserve more of our precious water resources.”

The installments began on Thursday with Parten’s residence and continued into the weekend. The entire project is estimated to conclude around the end of July. The meters are being installed by Accurate.

More water should be conserved with the plan because of the ability to monitor each situation. The city will be notified when there is a potential leak and have the means to prepare it faster and more efficiently. In the past, a water leak would not even be reported until it was finally visible. Now, the smart meters will send a notification which makes it possible to catch a problem sooner and gives a resident more control of their overall usage.

A resident can also access their personalized portal an estimated 10 days after the instillation period. The following information will be require to set up an account: zip code, a 10-digit account number (including hyphens) and an E-mail address.

To begin the process of activating a personalized online portal, visit www.EyeOnWater.com. A consumer smartphone app will be made available after the initial online sign up.